Shawn Kemp fizzled early amidst loud boos before recovering for
17 points in his return to Seattle, but Gary Payton hit a key
bucket down the stretch and finished with 28 points to lead the
SuperSonics past the Cleveland Cavaliers, 99-91.

"I was pretty much waiting for this," Kemp admitted. "It was
one of the things on the schedule I waited for."

Kemp collected three fouls in nine minutes in the first half,
hitting one free throw and missing all three of his shots from
the field. But he came alive over the final 24 minutes,
completing the Cavs' comeback with a jumper that forced an 83-83
deadlock with 4:30 to go.

"Shawn seems happy and I think we're happy that we've moved on,"
said Seattle coach George Karl. "I think it's time for
everybody to put it behind us."

But Payton, who hit 10-of-18 from the field, followed with a
lay-in that ignited a 9-2 run to put it out of reach. Payton
had eight rebounds and six assists and Vin Baker totaled 21
points for the Sonics, who posted their fourth straight home
victory.

Kemp, who played in Seattle for eight seasons before coming over
to the Cavaliers in a blockbuster three-way trade that involved
Baker, hit 5-of-11 from the field, 7-of-10 from the line and
added seven rebounds in 30 minutes.

A five-time All-Star, Kemp faced his old club for the second
time since coming over in a three-way, blockbuster trade. In
the Cavs' 109-84 home loss to the Sonics on January 8th, Kemp
was held to just nine points on 2-of-11 shooting and six
rebounds.

"We've come out of a trade, a difficult trade situation with a
very good player, some people might say a better player," Karl
said. "All I know is, we haven't missed a beat and we have a
chance to contend for a championship. That usually doesn't
happen very often when you have a very unhappy player."

Rookie Cedric Henderson had a season-high 23 points and Wesley
Person added 16 for Cleveland, which lost its eighth in a row to
the Sonics and its seventh straight in Seattle.

"We just decided we were going to go out and give them a fight,"
said Henderson, who was 10-of-15 from the floor. "I don't get
that much attention, so I took advantage of what was open. I
just took points where I could take them."

Trailing 24-22, the Sonics scored the first 12 points of the
second quarter and assumed a 34-24 advantage on a three-point
play by Hersey Hawkins, who finished with just six points.
Seattle built its lead as big as 16 points on two free throws by
Schrempf before Person hit a jumper to cut it to 57-43 at the
break.

Schrempf finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Dale Ellis
added 17 points off the bench for the Sonics, who hit 44 percent
(36-of-81) from the field.

The Cavaliers fought back in the second half. Down 65-52 midway
through the third quarter, Kemp hit a pair of free throws to
ignite an 8-0 spurt. Person dunked, Brevin Knight hit 1-of-2
from the line and Vitaly Potapenko dropped in a short hook
before Kemp's free throw capped the burst with three minutes
left.

Cleveland pulled even for the first time in the second half at
74-74 on Kemp's 18-footer with 8:18 to play. The Sonics crept
ahead but the Cavs caught them again at 83 on Kemp's
follow-jumper with 4:13 left. Payton and Ellis made layups
before Henderson's dunk sliced the deficit to 87-85, but
Schrempf hit a lay-in and Payton converted on a three-point play
as Seattle iced it with a 9-2 burst.

"He (Kemp) seemed much more aggressive than the game in
Cleveland and we expected that," said Baker. "He was making
some tough shots, I was playing pretty-good defense, but he was
making tough shots."